A circuit of this type is used in areas where a short circuit and/or overcurrent is measured on a load and the load current is to be limited, while the load is to be able to be switched at the same time in a current-less fashion by way of a binary signal from a controller for instance.
Known circuits of this type achieve the said objects, e.g. by means of optocouplers, with the degree of accuracy here being minimal and the range of dispersion of the measurement being relatively high. In addition, a simultaneous deactivation of the output driver (load) is not possible here and is achieved by deactivating a reference voltage.